Like so many other runners, Eileen Wallace and Jamie Tighe, who live a mile apart from one another in Franklin, never finished last year's Boston Marathon.

Police stopped Wallace at mile 22, and Tighe couldn't cross the finish line because of an injury.

And last year Mendon's Kristine Biagiotti was the second to last person to cross the finish line, as the first bomb exploded.

But it was a different story Monday as all three ran again and successfully completed the race.

Wallace and Tighe ran for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, along with more than 700 others. Wallace battled breast cancer; Tighe's childhood friend, Andy Swan, died after a struggle with lung cancer.

As if they needed more motivation to hit Boylston Street with a head of steam and cross that line.

At the starting line in Hopkinton Monday morning Tighe, who has run three Boston Marathons said, "This Marathon is an example of the amazing resilience of so many. Crossing the finish line will be very cathartic."

"I'm stronger this year," she added.

Wallace, who was preparing to run in her fifth Boston Marathon, said she expected to shed "a lot of tears" once she makes it over the line. Tighe, too, said she had put on waterproof mascara.

"I run for the hope of more survivors like me," Wallace said. "I'm a 10-year breast cancer survivor, and I just believe that someday we will have a world without cancer if we continue pushing the research."

Wallace also said she was running for her father, who underwent treatment at Dana-Farber, and her patient partner, Brielle, a 13-year-old girl who lost her fight with cancer two years ago.

"I cannot wait to take that right on Hereford and that left on Boylston," said Wallace. "I'm going to hold my hands up as I cross that finish line – just Boston Strong."

And after she crossed the finish line on Boylston Street, Tighe said, "I felt nothing but love. These are the best people."

Biagotti also had tears streaming down her face as she crossed the finish line

"I'm so glad we finished - it was part of the healing," Biagiotti said.

Biagiotti and her daughter, Kayla, whom she pushed in a wheelchair, made history last year as the first mother-daughter team to complete the Boston Marathon. All of that joy, however, was overshadowed by the the two bombs that killed three and injured hundreds.

Biagiotti said it was amazing to cross the finish line this year without all of that terror.

"I do wish Kayla was here," Biagiotti said. "All along I said I wasn't going to bring her and now I miss her."

Page 2 of 2 - The day, she said, was a rollercoaster of emotions, but she was so happy when she did see - and get a kiss from - Kayla in Wellesley.

Part of the reason Biagiotti opted not to bring her daughter was because of the increased security this year.

"I absolutely felt safe today," Biagiotti said. "The B.A.A. did a great job out there."